Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles (23 December 1812-16 April 1904) was a Scottish author and government reformer who campaigned on a Chartist platform.

Biography
Samuel Smiles was born in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland on 23 December 1812, and he studied medicine before becoming an author and government reformer. Smiles campaigned on a liberal Chartist platform, and he concluded that progress would come from new attitudes instead of new laws. In 1859, he published Self-Help, which claimed that poverty was caused largely by irresponsible habits, while also attacking materialism and laissez-faire government. He was raised to celebrity status almost overnight, and he was a champion of mid-Victorian liberalism. He died in 1904.